I've got 99 problems and you're all of them
by Lia-Osaka92
Summary: Midorima Shintarou has acquired the greatest problem he'll ever have to face. Pre-slash, implied MidoTaka, One-shot


**I've got 99 problems and you're all of them**

In principle, Midorima Shintarou is the type of person to avoid problems as much as humanly possible.

"Shin-chan, wait! I wanna take a bath too!"

Which is not to say he doesn't have any problems. Like every normal person, he has a handful of issues here and there that prevent his life from running as smoothly as he would wish. For example, Oha Asa said today would be a bad luck day for Cancer, and the universe had agreed with her when it put him in an accidental joint training camp with Seirin, which means he'll be staring at Kagami and Kuroko's faces every day for the next week.

"Jeez, I told you to wait, why're you always so cold?"

But his biggest problem at the time is one he acquired barely a few months ago and yet, has somehow managed to take over a significant amount of his life. And this problem has a name.

"Why must you follow me everywhere, Takao?"

Shintarou is very aware of the fact that his teammates do not hold him in very high esteem outside of the basketball court and he is fine with that. He's never cared much about making friends, and the last time he tried it, it ended in absolute disaster. Being disliked by his teammates is certainly not one of his problems.

"Eh? I'm not following you, I just want to take a bath! Is Ace-sama too superior to share his bath with the commoners?"

Which is why he can not possibly fathom why has Takao become such a prevalent presence of his daily life. He doesn't quite remember when it became like this either. When the school year began Takao, much like everyone else, tried to stay clear of him as much as possible.

"You could've gone earlier instead of following me to the vending machine."

Recently though, something –Shintarou doesn't know what exactly- changed. One day Takao started talking about being acknowledged and sending dazzling passes, and the next day Shintarou couldn't seem to get Takao off his back. And that's a problem.

"Awww, c'mon Shin-chan, we're teammates! Training camp is a great opportunity to get to know each other better! How're we gonna do that if we don't spend time together?"

Shintarou removes his glasses and starts taking off his clothes without pause. It's a problem because Takao is loud and clingy and terribly annoying. He never stops talking, makes fun of his lucky items, and has somehow convinced him to tutor him so he won't fail his math exams.

"And what would be the purpose of that?"

Takao cocks his head, Shintarou can see the outline of his body and the movement in a blur. His vision is terrible without his glasses. Takao, luckily, doesn't know about this yet, but Shintarou knows that, if this "getting to know each other" campaign continued, that won't be the case for much longer –and he will certainly mock him if/when he does finds out-.

"Well, if I'm gonna be sending you the best passes you could dream of, I need to know you better, right?"

The biggest problem in all this is that Shintarou is not as bothered by Takao's constant attention as he claims, and he can't quite understand the reason for that.

"That makes absolutely no logical sense."

The water's temperature is perfect as he steps in, but he doesn't say anything. His fingers twitch when he hears the sound of Takao stepping into the bath too, a long pleasant sigh leaving his lips. For as much as he claims to feel terribly annoyed every time Takao opens his mouth, he finds himself finding the world all too quiet when Takao is not around. And every time he feels like that, his phone rings and Takao's name appears on the screen –usually an extremely foolish, nonsensical text message- and Shintarou's stomach curls.

"Of course it makes sense! My job as your point guard is to ensure you get the best passes at the best possible moment, how am I supposed to do that if I don't know anything about you?"

Shintarou is acutely aware of Takao's talent in basketball. Even with non-existant teamwork, Takao's passes always got to him fast, precise, in the best possible timing and position to nail the best possible shot. At times, he finds himself looking forward to a match, just so he can feel the ball perfectly falling into his hands as if it had been dropped from heaven, and take a quick glance to the side to find Takao smiling bright and proud.

"You were doing a fine enough job without having to invade my personal space."

Takao is silent for a moment. He rests his chin on his arms, folded over the edge of the bath. "It wasn't good enough though. I could tell when we lost against Seirin. And after the game I came to realize that Shin-chan's always working hard and giving his best. I saw that your basketball is truly amazing and that I had to step it up and match your efforts to be worthy of playing in the same court with you."

He pauses, and Shintarou takes the moment to let go of a breath he didn't know he was holding. That unpleasant feeling starts to coil in the bottom of his stomach, making his body feel numb. He looks at Takao's face, what little he can discern of it through the vapors of the bath and the fog of his own myopia, waiting, dreading a closing joke that would render it all meaningless.

"So to put it in simple words…" Takao hums a moment, holding his chin between his thumb and index fingers, his face briefly furrows in concentration. Then his mouth breaks in a wide, sincere smile. The room suddenly seems brighter "I guess I've just really come to love Shin-chan's basketball!"

 _Ah_.

Shintarou can feel a peculiar warmth crawling up his neck, his ears and nose, blossoming on his face, and it is most certainly not a product of the hot bath. Realization dawns on him heavy, yet liberating.

"Anyway, I guess I'm heading out first, I'm starving."

There is a sound of water splashing and Shintarou catches a hint of movement from the corner of his eye as Takao steps out of the bath.

"You staying?"

He nods once, short and mute.

"'Kay, but don't stay too long or you'll pass out and you're too big for me to carry you out."

When the sound of Takao's footsteps has dissipated in the distance, Shintarou covers his mouth with one hand, his cheeks aflame, heart thundering in his chest, the feeling all too obvious to not know what it means.

This is a problem.

 **End**

* * *

This is a reward fic for **bmouse** , thanks for letting me post this up here :D I've written about the first year training camp many times, so thinking of a new spin for it was a little difficult, but I like how it came out, sweet and subtle and understated. I like exploring how they fall in love with each other.

I hope you like it, will be looking forward to any comments. I'd link you to my , but I don't know how to code links in this space OTL. But hmu on tumblr at lia-nikiforov (because Yuri on Ice has ruined me) if you want more information


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